The Pacifist and The Activist
by jazziisms
Summary: Shadow approached her with caution, wondering what could be going through her head. Their views were polar opposite most of the time. And as much as he wanted to avoid her so she won't fear him, there was something about her that drew him in. Shadikal, hinted Sonamy, Knuxouge, and a lil' Taicks if you squint. Oneshot!


**So I've been a big fan of Shadikal for a long time. Figured I'd write something c:**

* * *

"Emergency meeting!" Sonic announced, dragging a grumpy, groggy Shadow by the ear. The others mumbled sleepily under their breaths, feet dragging across the floor to meet the other two in the middle. Clad in their pajamas, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, and Sonic formed a circle and sat down.

"What's wrong, Sonic?" Tails stifled a yawn, wiping his eyes.

"This better be good if you're wakin' us up in the middle of the night." Knuckles crossed his arms.

"Don't worry! It is! Heh…" Sonic scratched the back of his head as Shadow glared at him. "Look, remember that day when we were makin' fun of Shadow because he didn't have a girlfriend?"

"_You and Knuckles_ were making fun of Shadow," Tails corrected, blinking slowly.

"Me and Knuckles were making fun of Shadow." Sonic repeated and nodded. "Alright, alright…but you weren't exactly backing him up either, buddy."

"Can you just get to your point? _Before_ I _chaos blast_ you into oblivion?" Shadow interrupted before Tails could protest or Knuckles make things worse than what they already were.

"Riiiight. Anyway! I've been thinkin' about how this could go, yanno, since Ames won't quit naggin' me about it-"

"You actually _listening_ to Amy's nagging?" Knuckles snickered.

"Oh c'mon, Knuckles. Amy just wants Shadow to be happy. I can see where she's coming from." Tails shrugged a shoulder. "No one can be alone forever, yanno? I think I'd lose my mind if I didn't have you guys or-"

"Or _who?_"

"O-Or…or…" Tails' voice lowered to incoherent mumbling before he huffed, "Shut up, Sonic."

Sonic laughed. "I don't know, Tails…Are ya suuuure you're not talking about a badger about _this _tall-" he held his arm out, palm parallel to the floor. Before Sonic could further embarrass the blushing and fuming kitsune, Tails chucked a pillow at the cobalt hedgehog's head. Knuckles' gaze darted from one best friend to the next, clearly left in the dark about this sudden fact, and Shadow glowered at the floor. Sonic's hysterics increased tenfold, still guffawing as he got knocked down by the pillow. He lazily threw it back and sat up. "So, I got to thinkin'…" he continued when his laughter finally died down, "why don't we get him talkin' to someone we know, instead of some random chick? 'Cause, no offense Shadow, but you kinda scare off anyone who approaches you."

Shadow's glower intensified.

"Actually…Sonic has a good point, Shadow! How 'bout it?" said Tails. "Our friends-"

" Who just happen to be _girls_," Sonic added.

"-aren't afraid to talk to ya," Tails finished.

"I _know _you think at least _one_ of them is pretty," Knuckles leaned in suggestively. "So who is it, huh?"

Shadow sighed impatiently. He knew he couldn't get out of this – unless he murdered them all and made a run for it…no, no. Unfortunately he – somewhat – cares about them. All of them. This was stupid. Why were they wanting him to pursue a love interest all of a sudden? He was perfectly fine the way he was. By _himself_. And that's the way he preferred it to be.

Besides, no one could _truly _understand him. And still…stick around…

"Amy?"

Knuckles was received with a sharp, unexpected glare from Sonic. Shadow met the wide-eyed, uneasy gaze of his rival, noting how his vein was now pulsing; Shadow smirked darkly. _Oh?_

"Hm…" Shadow pretended to ponder over it, as if he seriously considered this, and Sonic's eyes were about to pop out of their sockets. But in reality, next to Rouge, the rosy hedgehog was probably the closest female companion he had. If he was off by himself during little parties, she would go out of her way to check on him and make sure he was okay. Her company wasn't as agitating as the faker's, sometimes welcomed even. Sure, he may or may not go with her places like the mall willingly, and yeah, he occasionally did something for her because she asked nicely. He supposed that she was…pretty and…sweet…but he never really thought of her in _that_ way. And from the way she talked so fondly about the faker, it was blatantly obvious where her feelings lay.

His smirk widened, feeling Sonic's gaze stab through his skull. "I suppose she's…_endearing_." He could have sworn he heard the blue speedster wheeze. "Wouldn't you say so, _faker_?"

Sonic squinted, cheeks pink. Tails chuckled quietly.

"Sooo, Amy…?" Knuckles made a get-on-with-it gesture.

Shadow shook his head. "No."

This time, Knuckles forced the next name out through gritted teeth. "Rouge?"

He shook his head again.

"Cream?"

Shadow fought a shudder. Too young. "_No_."

"Blaze?"

He only knew her on the battlefield. "No."

"Sticks?"

"Very funny."

Tails released the breath he had apparently been holding.

"Damn it, make up your mind! Sonic's gonna keep us up all night!" Knuckles groaned.

"Whoa, whoa, hold up!" Sonic threw his hands out to get their attention. "There's one more person – and you haven't mentioned her yet." He grinned. "Heh heh."

"Who?" Knuckles scratched his head.

Shadow sighed. _Here we go_.

But he couldn't help but wonder – who's unfortunate soul he will encounter tomorrow.

.

"Whoa!" Sonic raced forward as Amy fell from the sky, arms held out to catch her.

"Oof!" Amy grunted, opening her eyes only to meet his gaze.

"You okay?" Sonic smiled down at her, letting her down smoothly.

"Yeah. Thanks." Amy returned his grin with her own before they both returned their focus to the situation at hand. Eggman had released his robots into the city, and Amy, while out with her friends, had immediately leaped into action. Sonic, who had been nearby, came down to see what all the ruckus was about and was just in time to see Amy get shot out of the sky. Eggman's robotic cronies were both on the streets and in the air, those in the air having wings attached to their backs to keep them afloat.

"Alright! Which one of you _bag of bolts_ just hit me?" Amy demanded, hammer drawn and raised.

"Don't you think," two hands scooped under Amy's armpits and began to pull, lifting her up, "it would be better to attack," glossy lips pulled up in a smirk, "from the _air_?"

"Good idea, Rouge!" Amy grinned up at the bat, both grunting as two eggbots flew at them. Rouge pulled Amy back and thrust her forward, watching the pink hedgehog plummet through each enemy.

"Be careful!" Tikal called from where she stood on the sidelines with Cream. She was a pacifist and refused to fight, and Cream was keeping her company. Sticks, however, wasted no time to join the fun out in the battlefield, making warrior noises and throwing her boomerang left and right.

A sudden breeze flew past them, making the two peaceful girls gasp and push their skirts down.

Shadow the Hedgehog had arrived on the scene.

_"Chaos Control!"_ he shouted, momentarily freezing time. The black speedster zipped through each eggbot, destroying them easily with no sweat, before time resumed. He picked up Knuckles' voice as he charged into the fray with his powerful punches, and Tails greeted Tikal and Cream before joining his friends.

"Oh...why must we all resort to violence?" Tikal mused sadly, subconsciously taking a step forward into the street.

"Tikal? Tikal!" Cream reached for her friend, but the female echidna was blindly wandering into the crossfire, too immersed in her thoughts to notice.

And her gaze was frozen on Shadow. How could anyone want to live this way? Constantly fighting? Violence only made matters worse! How could he...how could any of them look so..._excited_ to fight?

She was so absorbed in her inner thoughts that she didn't notice a robot marching towards her. This one was bigger than the others. One of the many E-Series in the area.

"**ANNIHILATE**," it said.

Tikal jumped, whirling around, her eyes widening in fear.

"**ANNIHILATE**," it repeated, locking its target.

The gun raised, and her eyes crossed when the red dot landed in the middle of her face.

"Oh no...no, please, Mr. Robot," Tikal begged, eyes tearing up. "Please..."

Shadow looked briefly over his shoulder once.

Then he looked again sharply.

Peach quills...gentle, pacifist nature...blue eyes..._Tikal_. Just like Maria, and yet...

There was a gun pointed to her face.

That robot was going to kill her.

Shadow's hand slowly balled up into a fist.

Tikal was shaking. What could she do? She couldn't move! Her heart was racing, and she could feel a pair of eyes on her - but she didn't turn around to look.

"Do what you must, Mr. Robot..." she said, and its gun began to glow, charging up; she closed her eyes and continued. "But take into consideration..." Her eyes snapped open, chest heaving from her heavier breathing. She felt the adrenaline now. "...that I will do what _I_ must!"

The laser fired, and Shadow froze. Was he too late? Did another innocent die because he didn't take action?

The only thing remaining in Tikal's place was a deep dent in the concrete from the laser. The robot could see that there was nothing left, but still felt a presence around it.

Or more specifically..._on_ it.

Clinging onto the robot's head was Tikal herself. Having jumped out of the way right before her possible demise, she landed on top of the robot on all fours, a bit sloppily. She wasn't as agile as the others, but...but she had learned a few things. From her obvious lack of experience, Shadow could tell because her body language was loose and trembling, and her position was off.

But she actually _moved_ out of the way. What was Tikal doing out here in the first place? She wasn't a fighter. Wasn't the rabbit supposed to be looking after her? _Why couldn't anyone do their damn jobs?_

Shadow huffed, raising his chaos emerald. "Tikal, move!"

Tikal met his gaze and nodded, frantically hopping off of the robot and landing not so smoothly on the ground. She rolled over a few times and stopped on her stomach, groaning as she lifted her head. Shadow was running with his emerald raised high, ready to strike.

_"Chaos Spear!"_

"No!" Tikal's voice was swallowed by the wind, hand outstretched as the robot exploded from Shadow's power. She squinted from the brightness, blinded momentarily. What just happened? Was the battle over?

She blinked and watched as the silhouette of Shadow's body formed in front of her very eyes; it was a strange combination, like a demon with a heavenly aura around him. She always thought he was..._intriguing_. They were so _different_. When she first met Shadow, she almost feared him; but then she found out that he was not only one of the deadliest creatures on the planet...but one of the _loneliest_ people she knew. And nobody deserved to be alone.

Shadow approached her with caution, wondering what could be going through her head. Their views were polar opposite most of the time. And as much as he wanted to avoid her so she won't fear him, there was something about her that drew him in. Tikal was a brave soul. He will never know why she decided to stay in this world.

"Are you alright?" He held out his hand to help her up. He expected her to cringe away, or glare at him, or shout, _'Don't touch me!'_

But Tikal would never do those things. To his surprise, she took it and nodded, using his hand for leverage. "I'm fine. Thank you for saving me."

"_What the hell did you do that for?_" he demanded, and she leaned back. "You know damn well you can't fight. Weren't you supposed to be with Cream?"

"I...-"

"You could've gotten hurt." Shadow crossed his arms.

"I know, but...-"

"But what? There's _no excuse_," he snarled, teeth gritted. "What you did was stupid and reckless and naïve and-"

Tikal did the only thing she could do.

She hugged him. Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, closing her eyes. His rant ended midsentence, arms stiff at his sides. She gave him a soft squeeze. "I know...but I have you to be thankful for. You're a good person, Shadow." Red eyes widened at her bold statement - as if it was a _fact_. "You're worth more than you give yourself credit for."

Shadow could only stand there, bewildered, as this strange girl hugged him. Did she...did she really think that he was...good? That he could _be_ good?

He could only stare hard into her shoulder, at a loss of what to say or what to do. Just feet away, Sonic nudged his friends.

"What did I tell ya?"

"Oooooh!" Knuckles smirked. "I get it now..."

"Tikal, huh?" Tails mused. "I'd like to see how that would turn out."

"Yeeeeah...wait, what are we talking about?" Sticks frowned, feeling out of the loop.

"Oh you'll see, honey." Rouge eyed the two smugly.

"I don't know..." Cream mumbled quietly.

"Ahh, this is perfect! Sonic, you're a genius!" Amy squealed. "I could just _kiss_ you!"

Once the words were blurted out, she wheezed and turned to Sonic in panic of his reaction. The blue hero's eyes were as wide as saucers, heart ready to burst out of his chest, muzzle as pink as her quills.

"Uhhh, who's ready for ice cream?!" Sonic exclaimed.


End file.
